Protestors picket Boehner’s $30,000 fundraiser ticket

A group of angry Texans couldn’t afford the $30,800 per person ticket to a political fundraiser Monday featuring U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, so they set up a not-so-friendly greeting for him outside an Austin high-rise.

More than 100 folks from San Antonio, Houston and Austin chanted, carried protest signs and marched around the bank building hosting Boehner’s fundraiser for several Republican congressional members, including Lamar Smith and Francisco Canseco of San Antonio.

“We don’t have $30,000 for a ticket, so we are having a little picket. That’s the only way we can let them know to pass the American Jobs Act,” said Shannon Perez of San Antonio. “We want the jobs act passed now. We are tired of the stalling.”

Boehner arrived in a caravan consisting of three shiny, black SUV’s that quickly sped into the bank’s underground parking garage. The crowd didn’t really expect he would stop and chat with the protestors.

“We want him to see us and to feel us and we want him to hear from us at the ballot box in 2011,” Perez said.

Congressional Republicans opposed President Obama’s jobs plan because it would require a tax increase on the wealthiest Americans.

“We want to let Speaker Boehner know and Congressman Smith and Congressman Canseco know that we are very unhappy with their failure to accomplish anything in Congress,” said Vibeke Lee, a retired psychotherapist in San Antonio.

“We have massive unemployment. We have people struggling to get by, and they’re acting like a bunch of petulant little children,” she said. “If we do nothing, we can’t make any difference. We have to do something.”

Phone messages left at the district offices of Smith and Canseco were not immediately returned.

Most of the protest signs blamed Republicans for not offering a valid jobs plan. The chanted: “Hay-hay; Ho-ho, Republicans have got to go”

One of the signs read: “Lamar Smith: Mr. Smith went to Washington. Our jobs are overseas.”

Another: “Mr. Boehner: You have been in power for 264 days. Where are the jobs?” And another: “I am an endangered species. I am the American Middle Class.”

While Boehner may have only captured a fleeting glance at the protestors, motorists in rush-hour traffic honked horns. A city bus driver stopped and flashed her support with two-thumbs up.

Alexander Anderson is a retired master electrician from San Antonio who fought for the country’s military and used the GI bill to finance his education.

“I am here to save America – the worker. There’s a lot of work to be done – a lot of buildings and bridges and highways (to be repaired),” he said.

Beverly Ortiz made the drive from Houston to participate in the protest rally.

She came with a simple mission: “Make people aware of the situation – that we don’t have enough jobs, and we need better jobs.”